Natalie's Birth Story

On 30 June 2013, Natalie had a natural, drug-free VBAC. After having gone through a harrowing emergency C-section experience that left her feeling 'like a failure', she was determined for history not to repeat itself. She armed herself with birthing knowledge and listened to her body, trusting it to take the lead this time round. With the courage to follow her birthing body and a woman's birthing instincts, and a supportive gynae, she got the VBAC she wanted. 

This is her story.

30 Jun 2013

VBAC without epidural (40w5d)

Baby 3.4kg

6 Oct 2010

First birth with Emergency C-section (41w3d)

Baby 3.6kg

Asked to induce

I had always wanted a natural birth so I was very disappointed when my first birth ended in an emergency C-section. When week 41 passed and there was no sign of baby coming out, I was asked to go for an induction. I had 2 induction tablets and dilated to 3cm. The gynae burst my water bag and put me on drip to induce.

Offered epidural

Initially I did not want an epidural but the gynae says this might be the reason why I am dilating so slowly. Hence I took epidural and waited. I thought that everything will go well after that. I further dilated 2cm in 9hrs after I burst my water bag.

Gynae did not want to wait

I failed to progress more than 5cm dilation. Although there was no sign of baby in distress, the gynae did not want to wait. We asked him if it was ok to wait but he says no point since already waited for 9hrs and no progress.

Gynae said baby is big

As new parents without much knowledge, we can only trust the gynae since we did not wish to take the risk of baby passing motion in utero. The water bag had burst too and gynae was not really giving us much advice on how long can the baby stay inside the tummy with the water bag burst. Gynae said the baby is big so. Later after delivery he said that my cervix is sharp angle. I did not quite believe him because I am a big size so if my petite friend whose baby is heavier than me can have hers naturally, why can’t I? He had never informed me about my sharp angle during pregnancy. Why only now? I feel that he just does not want to go back home and return again after midnight – overtime for him. I am really bitter about this although I try to tell myself that my baby is healthy and even if I managed to dilate to 10cm, there might be still some other complications.

Gynae say impossible to try natural

I had my 2nd baby when I was staying in Perth. This time I wanted to try for a VBAC. As I am not familiar with Perth, I decided to have my baby in Singapore. I read up on VBAC and found my gynae – Paul Tseng. I did not wish to go back to my previous gynae as he had told me that it is impossible for me to try natural and that my next birth would be a C-section. I do not believe him anymore.

Discovering other birthing options

Australia is a very pro-natural country for child birthing as compared to Singapore. They have many different methods of birthing (home birthing, water birthing, midwives etc) I attended a prenatal yoga course and this must be the best thing that I did. At the end of every lesson, they would discuss topics on child birthing. After listening, I was very certain that everything was wrong for my first birth that resulted in emergency C-section. If only I had more information back then.

Determined to stay at home as long as possible

For my 2nd birth, equipped with all the information, I was ready to try for a VBAC. I try to eat lesser and healthily to keep my baby smaller. Paul told me to go to the hospital only when the intervals between my contractions were strong (1 min every 4 mins) or if my water bag burst. Now that I know babies don’t come out so fast, unlike on TV and I don’t dilate so fast. I was determined to stay at home as much as possible. Despite Paul been pro-VBAC, I am still not going to take any chances. I strongly believe that if I go to the hospital too early, there is a chance that they will say I fail to progress if I stay there for too long. Baby monitoring will also hinder my movement and make it harder for me to dilate. Nurses might check dilation frequently resulting in water bag burst and they may psycho me to take epidural.

Natalie’s Birthing Journey

28th June

Morning - Mucous plug came out. Contractions was 30s every 9mins. I was worried as I am not sure if I should go to the hospital. I did not.

Afternoon – Contractions disappear after a nap. They are false contractions.

Night – Contractions came again around 10pm. Intervals of 10mins and 15mins. Last longer(90s) and much more painful than the contractions in the morning. I was able to sleep while I was having contractions so I guess they are fake since I can still sleep else my pain tolerance is very high.

29th June

No more contractions in the morning and afternoon.

Night – Contractions started at 10pm. Mucous plug and diarrhea too. I was able to sleep so I suppose it is not the real thing.

30th June

Morning - Woke up at 2am feeling great pain and not able to sleep. I was timing my contractions from 2am to 4am. It was getting very painful. I was wondering why fake contractions are so pain. I had bad diarrhea too, keep running to the toilet. The intervals are not consistent still so I thought they are fake. It was about 1min every 4min or 5min. There were also longer ones every 7 or 8 mins. 

I was moving around a lot every time during my contractions. Making sure I am in positions that will help me to dilate faster and relieve the pain.

 4am – Pain got worst. Something is not right. I was having contractions every 2mins when I was getting ready to go to the hospital. Oops!

In active labour
I was bleeding when I went to the toilet in the hospital. Nurse confirmed that I was in labour. She checked and I was 6cm dilated. Nurse was very rough when checking; I was so scared my water bag will burst. She even told my mum (my husband is overseas) that VBAC was very risky and my uterine will rupture. I was quite irritated with her because if I have not warned my mum before this she will probably be very scared. Luckily I told my mum much earlier that Paul said there is 1% risk and I have already signed the indemnity form.

Birthing ball and birthing stool sped things up
I was plugged on the CTG and had to take laughing gas for the pain. I did not take epidural. Within less than an hour I was 8cm dilated. I was still worried that I will not dilate to 10cm so I asked the nurse to remove the CTG so that I can at least lie on the side and not on my back. She was quite unwilling but allowed me to do it later. There was no progress during the next dilation check so I requested for birthing ball and birthing stool. She was not very experienced as she had to make me get up to the bed again before she can check my dilation. I was quite irritated because my contractions were coming very fast and I had to wait for the contraction to subside before climbing back into the bed again. I was 9cm dilated. The birth ball & stool definitely sped things up.

Luckily they change my nurse after this as it was time for them to change shift. The new nurse was able to check my dilation when I was on the birthing stool. She told me to push since I am quite near 10cm and advised me to push on the bed as it will be much easier. I was sceptical but since already 10cm so might as well. It will be easier for Paul to deliver too. Paul had not arrived yet.

I asked the nurse how long I need to push before baby can come out. She told me an hour. I really feel like giving up on hearing this. I wanted epidural if it is going to take another hour but I guess it is too late so I did not bother to ask.

Baby's head after a few pushes
My mum said she saw the baby’s head after 3 to 5 pushes. That really gave me the encouragement to go on. Paul finally arrived and after 2 to 3 pushes the baby was out. It was less than an hour! Paul’s voice was very encouraging and it really gives me the strength to continue.

A natural, drug-free birth

I am very glad as it takes only 3hours after I reach the hospital to deliver my baby. The pain was bearable and I had no medical intervention or epidural. No drips and no catheter. The experience is so much better compared to my first. I was also able to directly latch my son in the delivery room. No shivering and no vomiting. My cervix was not acute angle afterall.

Giving my body time to dilate

I personally feel that I made the right choice to stay as long at home as possible. If I had gone to the hospital earlier (on 28th June), either they would have sent me home or I would not have been able to wait till 30th June to fully dilate since that will be almost 3 days in the delivery ward. No stress from the nurses and unnecessary medical interventions too. Home is definitely more relaxing and less stressful.

For hundreds of years, women have been giving birth without any medical intervention. I do not see the reason that any of these are necessary especially if I am not having any medical complications. If I had gone to the hospital earlier, I will have insisted on a drug free natural labour too.

I was told that my first birth was a failure because the baby is not ready to come out (no contractions at all) and we forced him out. The end result is a C-section.

Please note that the above are my own views based on what I read and heard. They are not been medically advised by doctors so please do your own research. You need to know yourself and your limits well and what you are doing is not posing any risk to you or your baby. If there is any point of time that my baby or I are in danger, I would not have hesitated for medical intervention. Please do not insist on trying natural if there are already signs that things are not going well. You still have to trust your gynae. 

Natalie shares some tips based on her own experience

1)  Epidural before you are 6cm dilated will increase chance of C-section to 70%. You are not able to move around after having epidural, dilation can happen much slower. It might also cause baby to be in distress. Lying on your back will block your baby from going downwards due to the position of your tail bone. If you can bear with the pain, don’t take epidural.

2) One Australian mummy took 40hrs to dilate at home. Dilation varies so some people can take days to dilate.

3) Never ever let them burst your water bag. Do not let the nurse check too frequently in case they are too rough and burst your water bag. Even if burst, you still have 24hrs to deliver the baby. Gynae just have to give you antibiotics to ensure the baby does not get infected.

 4)     Never induce your baby unless medically necessary. Chance of C-section is much higher after induction as it might cause baby distress and failure to dilate.

 5)     Week 41 is not late. I am allowed to wait till Week 42 and he will then check to see if I can wait till Week 43.

 6)     Moving around dilates faster. Do not lie on the bed like what you see on TV.

 7)     You are allowed to consume food when trying for natural. I was not allowed to eat for my first birth. I was so tired and hungry by the time I was told to go for emergency C-section. My mind was too weak to even want to wait any longer.